Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS/SB)

Mangalore, May 14: At a workshop on ‘Effective utilization of river water in twin districts’ organized by the Coastal Development Authority at the auditorium of Karnataka Bank on Friday May 13, possibilities of using river water for drinking purposes, power generation and irrigation were analyzed and a committee of experts will be formed as an effect of this workshop.

Speaking on the occasion, Coastal Development Authority chairman B Nagaraj Shetty said that the project ‘Sowbhagya Jala Sanjeevini’ proposed by the government aims to save water that flows to seas and rivers without getting utilized. He then said a committee consisting experts from various fields like politics, technology and media will be formed to finalize the draft of the project.

In his keynote address, A  G Kodgi, the chairman of the task force for implementation of the Third Finance Commission, said that the twin districts and Kodagu are developed compared to other districts in the state. He added that the district gets 4,500 MCM of rain and has 13 rivers, but only 2 percent of water is actually used, which clearly indicates that there is no scarcity of drinking water in the state.

Speaking on the KC Reddy report, he said that experts studied the project and then got in touch with the CM’s advisor in 2007. The advisor asked them to submit the merits and demerits of the project, but regrettably those experts used 48 forged signatures against this project.

He urged the experts of the current project to work for the districts’ welfare and said that the execution of the project not only benefits coastal districts but to the state as a whole in many other ways.

Deputy speaker N Yogish Bhat earlier said that Nethravathi river diversion is against the nature.

In his address Prof G V Joshi of Justice K S Hegde Institute of Management Nitte, said that the people in DK, Udupi, and Kodagu are well aware of the Nanjundappa Committee Report, but have not adopted it in a best manner. Observing that the report clearly indicated scarcity of drinking water in the coastal district, he said that experts must work towards conserving water to meet the water requirements of the three districts.

Prabhakar Rao compered the programme. Meghana Pai rendered the invocation. People from various fields concerned were present.